The Apple Support Profile page provides an excellent dashboard to check technical support history, status, and warranty information for all registered Apple products under ownership. Assuming you have used the same Apple ID (email address) for all purchases and registrations, you’ll find every Apple item you’ve bought and registered here, including Macs old and new, iPads, iPods, iPhones, and more.

• Check your own Apple Support Profile – Apple.com

After logging in with an Apple ID, click on any item to get more information about it, including:

• Serial numbers and model numbers for all Apple products
• Coverage details
• Registration status
• Phone tech support eligibility
• General warranty coverage information (same as this)
• AppleCare warranty extension eligibility
• Past cases and repairs history
• Status of support cases and repairs

Remember, to take full advantage of the Apple Support Profile, be sure to always use the same Apple ID when registering new products.

This is an extremely useful site for tech support, troubleshooting, and general ownership purposes, be sure to bookmark it. Nice tip from @MacGeekPro.

Apple is rumored to be working towards releasing retina display equipped MacBook Pro’s in the second quarter of 2012, according to a new report from the Taiwanese trade publication Digitimes. Citing upstream component sources, the displays are said to be 2880×1800 pixels and become yet another competitive advantage for Apple’s portable lineup:

While the prevailing MacBook models have displays with resolutions ranging from 1680 by 1050 to 1280 by 800, the ultra-high resolution for the new MacBook Pro will further differentiate Apple’s products from other brands, commented the sources.

Earlier in the fall, Digitimes also suggested that a MacBook Air 15″ model would be released next year, but there is no indication that it would carry the same 2880 x 1800 pixel display.

Hints of Macs with retina displays have existed for a while now. Earlier in the year, we pointed out that wallpapers in Mac OS X Lion are 3200×2000 resolution, greater than any currently shipping Apple hardware. Additionally, many icons in OS X Lion are 1024×1024 pixels, double what they were in previous Mac OS X releases.

Finally, persistent iPad 3 rumors suggest the device will feature a retina display. One could guess that for Apple to release a retina equipped iPad, there would also have to be Macs with equal or greater screen resolutions available to adequately develop retina iPad apps on.

In 1991, astronauts took a Macintosh Portable aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-43, amongst other things, it became the first computer to send an email in space. A slightly less historical aspect is this fairly entertaining video clip from that mission, demonstrating the Macintosh Portable’s disk ejection system, which works perhaps a little too well in zero gravity.

“…We’ve got a phenomena that we’ve noticed since we’ve gotten into orbit here. The automatic disk ejection system that the Mac has, as you can see when we get rid of these disks, we’re going to have to pay attention to where they go.”

Watch the video, it’s well worth the 15 seconds.

Heads up to @AppleSpotlight for the find

Component suppliers have informed DigiTimes that Apple is already gathering pieces to a 15″ ultra-thin notebook that is set to debut as early as the second quarter of 2012.

While DigiTimes cautions they don’t know if the new laptop is a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, Apple openly promotes the current MacBook Air lineup as “the future of the notebook”, and a MacBook Air 15″ would be an excellent compliment to the product lineup.

Assuming a MacBook Air 15″ followed the weight difference (0.58lbs) of the existing 11″ and 13″ models, a theoretical 15″ model may weigh in at 3.54lbs.

On our personal wish list for such a machine would be 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB SSD standard with a 512 GB SSD option, 1680×1050 or higher resolution, a discrete GPU, and Core i7 processors at 2.5GHz or above, while still retaining the stellar battery life that all of Apple’s devices are known for. A built-in coffee maker and personal assistant would be nice too, with the former being unlikely but the latter a possibility through the rumored Siri integration in future versions of OS X.

Will Elder Scrolls V Skyrim run decent on your Mac? If your Mac is relatively new (2009 models and up) the answer is probably, but before you go jumping into Bootcamp, installing Windows on another partition, and buying the game, let’s check to be certain that it will run on your hardware, and run at an acceptable rate for that matter.

First up, here are the general Skyrim system specs for those who are savvy enough to take this information and make a decision on that alone:

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Did you hate the sharp case edging on the MacBook Pro? They’re gone in the new models, instead there is a minor rounding of the newest MacBook Pro series case edges. While this may seem insignificant it’s actually a fairly big deal for anyone who is accustomed to the previous MacBook Pro’s sharp corners, which could be downright uncomfortable after extended use.

If this seems unimportant, keep in mind that some users actually went ahead to file their MacBook edges with nailfiles or otherwise to smooth out the edges themselves (see link, or video below).

In search of a good picture to demonstrate the difference, I stumbled across Marco Arment – the Instapaper guy – mentioning his new MacBook Pro 2011 vs the old one (shown up top), and low and behold he points out the same rounded edges. On the left is the previous MacBook Pro and on the right is the new 2011 model year, the difference is subtle, but apparently makes quite a difference in longterm use.

We’ve received a few emails about this change, the most recent from Rieky W:

I’ve just notice that my brand new macbook pro has a new edge profile. It is not as sharp as previous macbook pro, it’s comfortable to place my wrist now.

I know the sharp edges have prevented some users from upgrading or using the MacBook Pro’s longterm, so the corner adjustment may be important enough to sway a future purchase decision for some individuals, and is therefore worth mentioning.

Oh and here’s the popular video that showed users how to file the edges on an aluminum MacBook Pro themselves:
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Interested in Apple history? You should download Guy Kawasaki’s book “The Macintosh Way”, which he just made available for free as a PDF. Guy Kawasaki worked at Apple from 1983 to 1987 and was one of the employees charged with marketing the Macintosh at its introduction in 1984.

The Macintosh Way is a “take-no-prisoners guide to marketing warfare” says Jean Louis Gasse, founder and president of Be, Inc. Must reading for anyone in the high-tech industry, it is valuable, insightful guide to innovation management and marketing for any industry.

The book was written in 1989 (on a Macintosh SE!) after Guy Kawasaki left Apple, and, in his own words, the book aims to explain what the Macintosh division was trying to do. The preface reads:

This book is about doing the right thing and doing things right. It is meant for dreamers, revolutionaries, Macintosh aficionados, and all the people who want to learn about the Macintosh Way. It is aimed at the inner circle, and it is not meant to appeal to the largest possible audience or the lowest common denominator.

It’s about 200 pages long and a good read for anyone interested in the Apple’s past, marketing, or just the history of business and technology in general.

Download directly from here (PDF) as posted to Guy Kawasaki’s Google+ profile

Update: Having trouble opening the book on an iPad? Try one of the following:

• Download it to a Mac, open it in Preview, and re-save the file via “Export” as a new PDF. Sync that new version of the book to the iPad for reading in iBooks
• Alternatively, you can download a version converted via Adobe Acrobat here from Google Docs, this link comes from Guy Kawasaki’s G+ comments

The original version seems to have some protection which is causing some users trouble, re-save it or download the new version and open that PDF into iBooks and it should work.

My MacBook Air 11″ has been creaking a lot lately when I pick it up, the noise has gradually increased and I finally discovered the reason why: loose screws. I’m not sure what caused the screws to become loose, but I do bring my MacBook Air almost everywhere with me so this could be a gradual loosening from constant use and movement.

The solution is obviously to tighten them up again, but Apple now uses a more unique screw type, the pentalobe, which prevents your average household screw driver from working. Luckily you can buy a Pentalobe screwdriver on Amazon for $5 to a buck and considering they work on the iPhone 4 and MacBook Air, it’s not a bad purchase. The expense is further justified by the fact that it’s very hard to replace a single screw, so if you lose one you’d have to have to spring $50 for a full set from a company like iFixIt, who also sells the Pentalobe screwdriver for about $13 (image up top is from them too).

Moral of the story here: if you hear creaky sounds and squeaks coming out of a MacBook Air when it’s picked up, check the screws.

The very first Macs user manual is a fun look at the past, and despite being 27 years old, there are still some undeniably Apple aspects to the manuals imagery and text. The intro paragraph from the first page is classic:

“You’re about to learn a new way to use a computer. If this is your first experience with a computer, you’re starting at a great time. If you’ve used “traditional” computers, you’ll appreciate the Macintosh difference. No more guessing what the computer wants. No more memorizing long commands with names only a programmer could love. With Macintosh, you’re in charge.”

Keep in mind that the original Macintosh was the first mainstream computer to use a mouse and a graphical user interface.

You can see some a few more pictures from the Macintosh User Manual below, but be sure to check out “Thoughts on (and pics of) the original Macintosh User Manual” for even more.

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A prototype MacBook Pro 15″ with a built-in 3G cellular modem has shown up for sale on eBay. Other than a 3G antenna and SIM card slot, the 2007 model is mostly an ordinary MacBook Pro with a Core 2 Duo chip, although there’s some additional soldering and the motherboard is red which is typical of Apple prototypes, according to MacRumors, who found the prototype.

As you can see in the picture, the antenna sticks out the top of the MacBook Pro’s lid, which isn’t the most glamorous solution, and considering Apple’s obsession with design this is probably one of several reasons the prototype never saw mass production. It’s also fascinating that despite the 3G modem not working, curious buyers are bidding the four year old MacBook Pro well beyond its resale value.

By far the most interesting part of this prototype is that it demonstrates how serious Apple was (is?) about including native cellular connectivity in Macs, even four years ago. The question for today is if a built-in 3G or 4G modem really matters anymore. Personal Hotspot in iOS 4.3 and up allows Mac users to share an iPhones internet connection, so having yet another cellular data plan for a Mac seems somewhat unnecessary.

All that said, Apple has recently solicited feedback from MacBook Air owners about 3G connectivity and usage, and has also patented antenna designs that show a 3G enabled Mac laptop, suggesting that Macs with their very own data plans may still be coming to market sometime in the future.